Hours before Tuesday바카라s handover of the Olympic flame for the 2022 Winter Olympics, human rights activists urged international governments, sponsors and athletes, to boycott what they called China바카라s 바카라genocide games바카라. (Other Sports News)
Activist groups, which also disrupted the flame lighting ceremony in southern Greece on Monday, accused the International Olympic Committee of granting legitimacy to rights abuses in China by allowing the Winter Games to go ahead in Beijing.
바카라We have yet again borne witness to the hypocrisy바카라 of the IOC, Mandie McKeown, the executive director for the International Tibet Network, told a news conference in Athens.
바카라They바카라re handing over the Olympic torch to a host government that is so far removed from holding any of (the Olympic) ideals that it seems we바카라re living in a kind of warped reality,바카라 McKeown said.
There has been international criticism of China바카라s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in the northwest region of Xinjiang, as well as its crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong and its policies toward Tibet and Taiwan.
But the IOC 바카라 which also awarded the 2008 summer Olympics to Beijing 바카라 has shied away from the issue, saying it바카라s out of its remit.
In his speech in the ancient stadium of Olympia on Monday, IOC president Thomas Bach stressed that the modern Games must be 바카라respected as politically neutral ground.바카라
Activists on Tuesday argued that human rights in the country have deteriorated since 2008, claiming that the Summer Games 바카라emboldened바카라 China.
The handover ceremony was to be held without spectators, because of pandemic safety measures, at the renovated ancient marble stadium in Athens where the first modern Olympics were hosted in 1896.
Three activists were detained Monday after sneaking into the strongly-guarded archaeological site of Ancient Olympia during the flame lighting, waving a banner that read 바카라No genocide games바카라 and a Tibetan flag.
Another four were detained outside the site, while two more protesters were detained in Athens on Sunday after a protest on the Acropolis.
The latter seven have been released, but the first three remain in police custody in southern Greece. The Beijing Winter Games will run from February 4-20. Only spectators from mainland China will be allowed to attend.Â
